{{Short description|Professional artist who also teaches art}} {{Globalize|1=article|2=United States|date=April 2026}} [[Image:GermantownTNart-class.JPG|thumb|200px|A Memphis potter conducts a summer workshop in hand-building in Germantown, Tennessee.]]
'''Teaching artists''' (TAs), also known as '''artist educators''', are professional artists who both make art and teach others art.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home |url=https://teachingartists.org/ |access-date=2025-12-31 |website=Teaching Artists of the Mid Atlantic |language=en-US}}</ref>
== Overview == Teaching artists work in educational and community settings, such as in schools, after school programs, libraries, retirement homes, prisons, healthcare facilities, social service agencies, governments and corporations. The ''Arts In Education'' movement benefited from the work of teaching artists in schools.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://teachingartists.com/researchonTA.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121227120148/http://www.teachingartists.com/researchonTA.htm|url-status=dead|title=Association of Teaching Artists|archivedate=December 27, 2012|website=www.teachingartists.com}}</ref>
Arts learning consultant Eric Booth has defined a teaching artist as "a practicing professional artist with the complementary skills, curiosities, and sensibilities of an educator, who can effectively engage a wide range of people in learning experiences in, through, and about the arts." <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://nysaae.org/docs/The_History_of_Teaching_Artistry_By_Eric_Booth.pdf|title=The History of Teaching Artistry|website=nysaae.org}}</ref> This term applies to professional artists in all artistic fields.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://teachingartists.com/whatisaTA.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723005527/http://www.teachingartists.com/whatisaTA.htm|url-status=dead|title=Association of Teaching Artists'|archivedate=July 23, 2011|website=www.teachingartists.com}}</ref> Arts integration is a teaching methodology facilitated by teaching artists where students construct and demonstrate understanding through an art form.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/resources-for-educators/classroom-resources/articles-and-how-tos/articles/collections/arts-integration-resources/what-is-arts-integration/|title=What is Arts Integration?|website=The Kennedy Center}}</ref>
Teaching artists have worked in schools and in communities for many decades.<ref>Phillip Lopate, ''Journal of a Living Experiment, a documentary history of Teachers & Writers Collaborative and the writers-in-the-schools movement.'' New York: Virgil Press, 1979.</ref><ref>Jane Remer, ''A Brief History of Artists in K-12 American Schooling,'' Teaching Artists Journal, Volume I, Number 2, 2003.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Wakeford |first=Michael |title=Putting the arts in the picture: reframing education in the 21st century |publisher=Center for Arts Policy at Columbia College Chicago |year=2004 |isbn=9780929911113 |editor-last=Rabkin |editor-first=Nick |location=Chicago |lccn=2004111847 |editor-last2=Redmond |editor-first2=Robin}}</ref>
During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, TAs were among the first staff to be fired, furloughed, or have contracts terminated, with little recourse, as they typically work without labor union backing. Historically, TAs work in part-time or independent-contractor roles with compensation based on hourly rates or service duration, which undervalues their commitment to creating high-quality programming. Moreover, TAs lack traditional benefits, including healthcare, pensions, sick leave, and job security. In April 2020, a team comprising 16 U.S. national arts leaders and five arts organizations convened to address the critical moment TAs faced. That summer, they published a white paper calling on the arts and culture sector, the philanthropic community, policymakers, schools, libraries, retirement homes, detention centers and community entities to prioritize and value TAs. <ref>{{Cite web |title=Immediate and Structural Action Needed |url=https://teachingartists.org/resource/immediate-and-structural-action-needed/ |access-date=2026-01-02 |website=Teaching Artists of the Mid Atlantic |language=en-US}}</ref>
==See also== *Artist *Teacher *Visual arts education
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==Further reading== *Gielen, Pascal and De Bruyne Paul, (2011), Teaching Art in the Neoliberal Realm. Realism versus Cynicism. Valiz: Amsterdam. {{ISBN|978-90-78088-57-8}} *{{Cite web|url=http://www.norc.org/PDFs/TARP%20Findings/Teaching_Artists_Research_Project_Executive%20Summary_%20FINAL_9-14-11.pdf|title=Teaching Artists and the Future of Education|last1=Rabkin|first1=Nick|last2=Reynolds|first2=Michael|last3=Hedberg|first3=Eric|last4=Shelby|first4=Justin|date=September 2011|website=|publisher=National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago|access-date=June 7, 2016}}
Category:Visual arts education Category:Arts occupations Category:Education and training occupations